Chapter 126: Waiting for Someone to Make a Move
The silence held for a beat, then the murmuring surged back.
This time, every house was looking at the Slytherin table. Some openly, some trying not to. Anger, suspicion, resentment, curiosity.
The Slytherin students met those stares. A few even sat up straighter.
A cluster of fifth-year boys bumped shoulders, smirks tugging at their mouths. The way they looked at the Muggle-born students at the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables was the way someone might look at objects in a display case. A little curious. Mostly cruel.
Regulus turned back to his toast.
Cuthbert folded the newspaper and set it on the table. He'd stopped eating.
His father held a senior position in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, leading the response team for magical exposure incidents in the Muggle world. Not a small job.
The Avery family belonged to the rationalist wing. They believed in Pure-blood dominance, that Pure-bloods were more gifted, their lineage cleaner, and that they deserved to lead. But the rationalists didn't advocate violent purges. Mixed-bloods could be absorbed. Muggle-borns needed strict vetting. Extreme measures only damaged Pure-blood credibility and drove the Ministry's centrists to the other side.
Cuthbert had been raised on this philosophy. He looked down on those of impure blood, thought them dirty, thought they didn't understand the traditions and customs of the wizarding world. But he'd never wished them dead in their homes. He didn't see the attack on a Ministry official's family as cause for celebration.